Derrius Thompson

Since signing as a free agent in the 2003 offseason, Derrius Thompson says one word best describes his Dolphins' tenure: humbling. After catching 53 passes for 773 yards and four touchdowns in 2002 for the Washington Redskins, the 27-year-old wide receiver figured his career was about to take off when he moved to South Florida. But in his second season with the Dolphins, Thompson has caught fewer passes for fewer yards than his last year at D.C. -- 44 balls for 640 yards and two touchdowns -- and has taken on his fair share of criticism.

There was a buzz around Dolphins wide receiver Derrius Thompson as he made plays daily with quarterback Jay Fiedler during minicamps and early in training camp. Now, after a relatively quiet exhibition season from Thompson and with attention shifted to lead receiver Chris Chambers, Thompson has slipped back into relative anonymity though he'll start opposite Chambers in the season-opener Sunday against Houston. Thompson made a handful of big plays in the exhibition games, but two of the three came from backup quarterback Brian Griese.

The most difficult season in Marty Booker's six NFL years may end on a fitting note. Booker is listed as doubtful for Sunday's game at Baltimore after aggravating an ankle injury four days ago in the Dolphins' 10-7 victory over Cleveland. "Hopefully I'll be able to go, but I have no idea at this point," Booker said after missing Wednesday's practice. Acquired from Chicago in an August trade involving defensive end Adewale Ogunleye, Booker needed significant time to get comfortable in the offense.

A neck injury that kept wide receiver James McKnight out of Sunday's practice isn't the reason Derrius Thompson had a spot with the first-team offense. Coach Dave Wannstedt said Sunday that Thompson has moved ahead of McKnight. "The most consistent receiver we've had since minicamp has been Derrius Thompson," Wannstedt said. "He and [Chris] Chambers are our two starters, there's no question about that." Wannstedt also praised McKnight, who is expected to miss several more days after a "burner" from Saturday afternoon.

The Dolphins made a multitude of mistakes in Sunday's loss. Among the worst: McMichael holds: Tailback Ricky Williams had a 48-yard run nullified by a holding penalty on tight end Randy McMichael away from the play. Penalties: Of the Dolphins' 11 penalties, three were major infractions for unsportsmanlike conduct (right tackle Todd Wade) and face mask (tight end Donald Lee and cornerback Jamar Fletcher). The Texans also declined three holding penalties. Not-so-Royal punting: Punter Mark Royals drew the wrath of fans after four consecutive attempts that failed to top 35 yards.

The Dolphins failed to land two of their desired free agents Sunday when left tackle Wayne Gandy and wide receiver Ike Hilliard agreed to contracts with other teams. New Orleans will sign Gandy to a six-year, $30 million contract that includes a $5 million signing bonus. Gandy, a nine-year veteran who has missed only one start in the past eight seasons, is expected to earn $15 million in the first three years of the deal. The Dolphins weren't willing to spend nearly as much, instead offering a contract averaging $3.5 million a season.

There has been extra running in Dolphins practices since Jim Bates became interim coach last week. Hoping to prevent pre-snap penalties and dropped passes during the final seven games, Bates is having perpetrators of such offenses in practice sit out a play by jogging off the field to touch a fence at the far end of the team's facility. "Sometimes you're going to have a hold or an aggressive hit out of bounds. That's football," Bates said Thursday. "But the offsides and illegal alignments, those things we should be able to control.

The most difficult season in Marty Booker's six NFL years may end on a fitting note. Booker is listed as doubtful for Sunday's game at Baltimore after aggravating an ankle injury four days ago in the Dolphins' 10-7 victory over Cleveland. "Hopefully I'll be able to go, but I have no idea at this point," Booker said after missing Wednesday's practice. Acquired from Chicago in an August trade involving defensive end Adewale Ogunleye, Booker needed significant time to get comfortable in the offense.

All season, the Dolphins have struggled to find a second receiver to replace Oronde Gadsden as a complement to Chris Chambers. They signed Derrius Thompson. They promoted Kendall Newson. Tuesday, they returned to Gadsden. According to two NFL sources, the Dolphins contacted Gadsden on Tuesday afternoon and began working out the details of a contract for the rest of the 2003 season. Barring a late snag, Gadsden will be back as early as this morning, though he probably will not return to action until the Dec. 7 game at New England.

On the nightstand beside Jason Taylor's bed, a sheet of paper has a handwritten word on it. "WIN." It sounds like a bad joke on a 2-11 team. But it's not there for laughs. He's tired of losing, tired of hurting, tired of this team coming up one play short every week and so very tired of the questions most of us are equally tired of asking by now. So let's talk about something else. Let's talk about character. Character still counts. It counts more in a season like this, actually. And so Taylor puts that word beside his bed to remind him what still matters in a season that doesn't matter anymore.

This time, it wasn't A.J. Feeley's fault. The Dolphins' 20-17 loss to Denver on Sunday at Invesco Field was more the result of defensive collapses and at least six dropped passes than errors by Feeley, whose penchant for mistakes in crucial situations has been a significant factor in his team's 2-11 record. A 50-yard field goal by Jason Elam with 2:50 remaining proved to be the winning score. The kick was set up by a 21-yard run by Reuben Droughns, who teamed with backup rookie running back Tatum Bell to gouge the Dolphins for 185 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 35 carries.

Since signing as a free agent in the 2003 offseason, Derrius Thompson says one word best describes his Dolphins' tenure: humbling. After catching 53 passes for 773 yards and four touchdowns in 2002 for the Washington Redskins, the 27-year-old wide receiver figured his career was about to take off when he moved to South Florida. But in his second season with the Dolphins, Thompson has caught fewer passes for fewer yards than his last year at D.C. -- 44 balls for 640 yards and two touchdowns -- and has taken on his fair share of criticism.

There has been extra running in Dolphins practices since Jim Bates became interim coach last week. Hoping to prevent pre-snap penalties and dropped passes during the final seven games, Bates is having perpetrators of such offenses in practice sit out a play by jogging off the field to touch a fence at the far end of the team's facility. "Sometimes you're going to have a hold or an aggressive hit out of bounds. That's football," Bates said Thursday. "But the offsides and illegal alignments, those things we should be able to control.

D RUSHING OFFENSE The Dolphins had only 22 rushing yards at halftime and, after falling behind by 17, were basically out of the running business. Sammy Morris had one 11-yard run, but his final tally was 11 carries, 48 yards. The Dolphins overall ran 15 times for 62 yards. Morris had had success in two previous games, but he was dealing consistently with defensive tackle Jason Ferguson and a set of pretty swift linebackers. F RUSHING DEFENSE This was one of the worst performances ever by a Dolphins run defense.

By Ethan Skolnick and Harvey Fialkov Staff Writers and Staff writer Alex Marvez contributed to this report, November 2, 2004

The last time the Dolphins played at the Jets on a Monday night, wide receiver Oronde Gadsden caught seven passes for 119 yards in a 40-37 overtime loss. Four seasons later, Gadsden caught the rematch from a higher place -- the luxury box of George Zoffinger, who is the president of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority. Gadsden, 33, has become a general manager in the five-year-old National Indoor Football League. The New Jersey Xtreme, which was 3-11 last season playing in Staten Island, will now play home games next door to Giants Stadium at the Continental Airlines Arena.

The Dolphins finally were able to lure a free agent, agreeing to terms with wide receiver Derrius Thompson on Friday evening. Agent Vann McElroy said he reached agreement with the Dolphins on a contract for Thompson, who started 14 games for the Redskins last season. McElroy declined to discuss terms of the deal, but the Dolphins had offered Thompson a three-year contract following his visit on Tuesday. Signing Thompson, the first free agent from another team to join the Dolphins, could mean the end of Oronde Gadsden's five-year stay with the team.

ANXIOUS MOMENT: Randy McMichael, who made a couple of great catches Tuesday night, had a scary moment during Wednesday afternoon's practice. The third-year tight end fell hard when he was unable to brace himself after stretching in the air for an overthrown pass. McMichael remained on his back for a couple of minutes while being tended to by trainers, who then helped him to his feet to the applause of the fans. McMichael walked back to the huddle gingerly, holding the right side of his lower back but went back into action.

Wide receiver Marty Booker received a rough introduction to South Florida during his first full practice Wednesday with the Dolphins. Booker suffered from heat-related symptoms that curtailed how much work he received during the session. "It's amazing," said Dolphins coach Dave Wannstedt, whose team sent defensive end Adewale Ogunleye to Chicago for Booker and a 2005 third-round draft choice Monday. "Here's one of the hardest workers the Bears have had. He came down today and felt it with the humidity a little bit. "But when he's out there catching the ball and making plays, he's got those soft hands that remind me of O.J. McDuffie.

So I'm looking at the names of the Dolphins' receivers, reading Thompson and Tolver, Simmons, Bellamy and Minnis, and I have a question: Do you think when coach Dave Wannstedt and General Manager Rick Spielman are looking at the depth chart that, individually or collectively, they bang their heads on a wall and just keep repeating, "What were we thinking, what were we thinking, what were we thinking?" Since Ricky Williams left in a puff of smoke and David Boston went down with a season-ending knee injury, there's been more than a little empathy for the Dolphins.